JustJimAZ

Aztec Death Whistle

Maybe you have never heard - or even heard of - this amazing screaming whistle.

The Aztec death whistle, sometimes described as “the scream of thousand corpses” produces a frightening sound.

It was José Luis Franco who published the first (1971) drawings of the death whistle and his family of Mexican “aerophones with springs of air”.

The only known ancient death whistles with archaeological context were published by Salvador Guilliem Arroyo in 1999. They were recovered from the hands of the skeleton of a sacrificed 20-year-old man that was found buried in front of the Ehecatl (wind) temple of Tlatelolco. It took 15 years before someone actually blew that particular ancient instrument, which had been relegated to a museum shelf. The sound deeply rattled those who were there to hear it.

Some suggest the terrifying sound the whistles make were used as a weapon of psychological warfare to scare the **** out of their enemies. Imagine hundreds of these whistles going off at the same time!

Others suggest these whistles were used as a sendoff to the dead during burial ceremonies or perhaps for human sacrifices.

Whatever their original use, these whistles are now available from several sources from Etsy to Amazon. I think even Allen Hopps sells some through Haunt Dawgs!
What do you think? Is there a place in your haunt for this shrieking whistle?